Introduction... Help?

[Ragtagcurtis]

will washing the sand in a bucket with tap water and moving it around with my hand be enough as I'm in an apartment block and have no need for a hose

Yes, that'll be fine; at least it shouldn't take you too long to do enough for your tank

You replied so probably haven't caught my edit so I'll repost. Just a few questions... Sorry

Although I've just checked out the sand on the Argos site and it comes out quite dark looking and not that appealing. How/where do you get that beautiful white looking sand?
how much would i need for a 125L tank in KG? and how do you clean it?

 

[moochy13]

this is argos playsand.

plants grow fine in sand, the ones i have at the back used to be the same height as the piece of wood in the middle. plant growth is more about light than substrate. the sand looks a lot darker when youre putting it in with no water in the tank. looks like soggy pastry.

 

[Miles_hot]

In terms of the plans - have a look at the planted section. One of the main reasons people suggest putting the plants in after the cycle has completed is to remove the additional hassel of algae (you can cycle the tank in the dark) - other than that there's no real reason not to put the plants in. The plants will do a similar job to the bacteria in terms of removing the toxins from the water - it is however another skill to learn and more complication which you may or maynot welcome.

As for the time aspect get the testing kit, agree that 0ppm / 0ppm is the point at which fish can be added and if by some devine intervention the wonder product from the IFS works in 7 days kudos to them. If on the other hand it does not the fish can't be added till the agreed level is reached - that way you don't get into a battle with your g/f as to which group of experts is right. The evidence is all there

You will be massivly assisted if you can get some mature media from somewhere which will have the required bacteria - some people on here seem to have cycled their tank in weeks (2-3) rather than months using this.

Good luck

Miles